Free photography tips

Before walking away from a scene: If taking pictures with the camera oriented in landscape position, rotate it to portrait and take a few more shots. (Or from portrait to landscape).

When reviewing your photos later, sometimes a vertical or horizontal crop would work much better if only you had taken the shot with the camera oriented that way in the first place.

Back up your images on two media. It is very likely you lose them in the coming years if you don't!

Know how to hold your camera and lens.

Participate in Cambridge in Colour. You will learn :)

As soon as you buy a new lens, specially an L lens, stick a UV filter to it and never take it off!

As soon as you buy a new lens which ever it is, never get an EV or any protective filter on it. It may cause flares and you will not like it.

Instead, always - yes, I mean always - use the lens hood. Even at night.

Sorry Ali :)

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Originally Posted by Alis

As soon as you buy a new lens, specially an L lens, stick a UV filter to it and never take it off!

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... except when shooting extreme contrast scenes (like lights at night) or using stacked filters that may cause vignetting or outright obstruction.

Sorry Ali :)

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Originally Posted by Antonio Correia

As soon as you buy a new lens which ever it is, never get an EV or any protective filter on it. It may cause flares and you will not like it.

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Or it may not cause flare, but you may damage it!

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Instead, always - yes, I mean always - use the lens hood. Even at night.

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Even if you have to cut slots in it so that the 6 x 4 GND filters can still be used? :eek:

Sorry Antonio :)

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Originally Posted by Colin Southern

... except when shooting extreme contrast scenes (like lights at night) or using stacked filters that may cause vignetting or outright obstruction.

Sorry Ali :)

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Good tip, but tips should be short and straight forward. If you make it too complicated, it becomes a book :)

In this case, if those who care about high contrast scenes most likely don't need a simple tip like the one I gave ;)

The worst place for your flash is actually right on top of the camera!

When shooting portraits be also very careful with the background :)

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Originally Posted by Donald

Can I make a wee plea, before the issue becomes a problem and people take offence at me writing.

I think we have to exercise some discretion here and only put up those things that we feel are really, really important tips that people are unlikely to be able to find easily elsewhere.

Otherwise we will defeat the object of the exercise by this thread becoming far too long which will make unwieldly for people to find relevant information. We want it short and snappy. Is it 40 posts in a thread that we get to a page before a 'Page 2' starts up (or you can set it for 40 posts). I would have said one page (40 posts) was ideal, two at the very most.

Of course, other people might disagree, particularly the guy who started the thread.t

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Good point.

However, how are we going to determine if our contribution is common/useful or not? The only way is to give it to another person for "clearance," like yourself.

So may I suggest that all future "Free photography tips" be first sent to you? IE, do not post in this thread. PM Donal instead. If you find it useful, and if it qualifies your standards, then post it in this thread.

PM sent. :)

Thank you in advance for doing us such a great service! :D

Merry Christmas too!

Administrator Edit: ... he's just joking folks!

Blazing fire: Donald does have a point and I think it's valid. :) It's christmas, not April fools's day!

Admin Edit #2: It's Colin, not Donald :eek:

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Originally Posted by Sahil

Don't forget to switch off Lens's VR/IS (Vibration reduction / Image Stabilisation) feature off, whilst taking a long exposure shot.

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I'm a little confused about this suggestion, can you please explain the reason to me...thanks!

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Originally Posted by bkbailey

I'm a little confused about this suggestion, can you please explain the reason to me...thanks!

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Hi Brenda,

The full answer is a little complicated I'm afraid, in that it depends on the version of IS and the lens. Early IS units weren't that smart and when installed in a lens that was mounted on a tripod (thus with no stabilisation required (in theory anyway)) the IS units had a tendency to "go looking for trouble" and could introduce the very issues that they were supposed to compensate for. Later version IS units had (for want of a better term) "tripod detection" built in, but Canon stuck with the "turn it off" recommendation for a couple of reasons:

1. It drained more battery power (if left on), and

2. Technically - whilst mounted on a tripod - the unit wasn't switched "off" internally (which mechanically secures it), it was electrically held in a "standby" position, which informed opinion thought wasn't quite the same.

In the past I've been asked to help fix images where the IS unit has been left on with the camera tripod mounted; there was a small difference and basically was able to pretty much conpensate with slightly more agressive sharpening. Personally I do turn mine off these days, but having just said that, I don't lose any sleep if I forget and leave it on either. Also, in certain windy conditions (and with long lenses) I still feel it's a plus to have it on.

Hope this helps :)

When going for a casual walk, take a small shoulder bag with your camera and one lens (a 'nifty-fifty' is ideal). Don't take all your gear. If you own a small camera with a normal size APS-C sensor (Panasonic Lumix, Olympus Pen etc) use that, as it will be even lighter to carry.

This forces you to work with what you've got, is good practice, and can be really fun! Even if you don't get great shots, it's still good practice at composition, metering, using camera settings, etc.

Apart from most 'street' photography shots - if you want to shoot someone who is not a formal model, explain to them why you want to take the shot of them, as well as asking their permission. You know why you want the shot - they don't unless you tell them.

Before you put your camera to your face, look at the scene/person/subject and think about your composition!!! In the viewfinder, take a look to all four corners before you snap that shot. If you have an electronic viewfinder, switch on a grid overlay for rule-of-thirds. It helps composition, but also helps you get the camera straight (either horizontally, or vertically)

I was reminded of this tip yesterday :( -- When carrying your camera over your shoulder, position it with the lens pointing in toward your body, rather than out. You are much less likely to bang it against, oh, a door frame, knock the lens cap off, etc.

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Originally Posted by Alis

The worst place for your flash is actually right on top of the camera!

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See here for proof! ;)

?? Why is that?

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Originally Posted by Antonio Correia

Shoot raw, not jpg.

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